This review may contain spoilers
ITS JUST A GAY BUSINESS
This is a trap - a Business Gay Performance, and im a sucker cause I fell for it.As a KPOP fan, i loved the concept. Also, as a KPOP fan, i felt disrespected.
Like some of the other Korean BLs out there, i dont know why they couldn't just add maybe 5 or 10 more minutes in each episode to make the story a little bit more cohesive and enjoyable. Its such a waste cause there are so many hints that this could be a good show.
Its the story of an idol Eden, being selected and paired with Jihoon to be in a duo, What 's unique is that they are marketing the group as a gay lover - supposed to be just a business concept, only for the pair to really fall for each other.
There are too many characters and too many subplots but everything felt rushed. They spent so much time with the antagonist, when they could have used that time to build up the chemistry between the main leads and show us when or how the two exactly fell for each other. In episode 7 and 8, i kept checking the runtime cause it feels like the show is just rushing to go to the end and yet I still havent seen what I wanted to see between the 2 leads. Unfortunately as i feared, the show ended too soon without giving any satisying ending. This is a problem with translating a 40-chapter webtoon into an eight 15-minute drama.
It is such a shame really cause the leads are very charming - and Nine kept reminding me of a young Seo Kang Joon. They were both amatuer-ish but they both did enough to be likeable. a few times I was on the verge of really caring about their characters but the show just didnt show enough to make me really reach that level.
I wont forget that cringy scene in the plane where they were both holding hands and sleeping head to head with a smile on their faces looking so uncomfortable when they both could very well be sleeping comfortably in that cushy business class seats even if they were holding hands.
From the onset it felt like a small project conjured up to promote the idol group. The "Business Gay Performance" using homosexuality as a concept was a little bit offensive if you think about it and at first i was thinking they were trying to mock and expose it, but by the end I felt even more ashamed of myself for being a fool and falling for it, even though they were clearly saying FROM THE BEGINNING that this is a Business Gay show and nothing more.
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1A lot better than expected
It's an interesting drama based on the reality of how the kpop industry works. I came to this drama because I know OnlyOneOf as a group. Because of that I thought this drama would be really cringe to watch (they are rookie actors and have no experience in acting), but I was honestly surprised with the overall quality. It's a low budget drama, but it's ok in terms of korean BL dramas.The story was compressed in 8 episodes of 15 minutes what made it feel too rushed. Things were happening too quickly so they used a lot of flashbacks to tell the story. It was smart in storytelling, but as a viewer it feels like you are being attacked with a lot of information from all sides. But that's my only complaint about the script per se. The adaptation from the webtoon was well done and I honestly think it was WAY more sensitive about the topic than the original work.
Like I said before, they have no experience in acting so I wasn't expecting much, but some of them really have a lot of potential. Hyunbin is an annoying, but really charismatic villain. You can know the actor for a villain is good when you feel angry the moment he shows up. In the terms of acting, I think KB was the best one. He looked evil for real. Eden and Jihoon were good as main characters. Eden did look innocent, but not dumb (so common in BL) and Jihoon was an experienced sunbae, but he wasn't an annoyingly cold character for no reason (also common in BL). The characters were well balanced and the actors did well. Nine did a specially greater work in the scenes he was angry which seems a funny thing to actually happen. I don't know if he rehearsed those parts more or if it was fun to him to manhandle KB, as he's the youngest and KB is the oldest.
Jay was an adorable character and I hope to see more characters like him in BL. A character that will back off after hearing a "no". As any BL fan know, characters in Bl usually thinks a "no" means a "try harder".
About the whole plot, I GET that some people will get angry with it. K-pop fans will probably get kinda pissed too. The plot says "the K-pop industry uses gay fanservice to please fans". But is it a lie? EVERY K-pop group will do that and that's set by their company. If you read that and thought "those two (any ship name) don't do that because thy are really close for real", then you know the industry made it work and it already got you. Yes, most idols from same group are probably close, but the fanservice IS REAL, so please don't fool yourself. They will do things on stage, they will lovingly look at each other, they will hug and hold hands and do all that and 80% of the time all this is for show.
All that being said, the whole plot of this is great. It shows how the industry works and how fans respond to it. Now imagine this: companies make their idols do fanservice and among them there are straight people, but there will be queer people too. Imagine working in a place that forces you to PRETEND to be gay as a job, but WON'T ACCEPT you if you ever come out. In this story every main character is canonically queer. Eden even represent a queer kid growing up with a heteronormalized mindset. His first love was a boy, but he never really accepted that part of himself until adulthood.
In the story there's even a part that one of the trainees say there are rumors about Eden and Jihoon as a real couple and he make it sound like a bad thing (as if they weren't pretending to be gay to begin with). In a place like South Korea it' ok if you pretend to be gay, but it's not ok for you to be actually gay. The story is kinda fluffly and soft, but there's a real critique behind it if you pay attention.
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Meh guys it's meh
hmmm imo this is meh but nice try. Love the ost but that's it.Overall Acting 5/10, they are new so it's understandable, the 2 main leads are better tho.
Story 5/10, soap-opera-like, weird conflict, badly written, see it yourself and you'll understand.
Videography 5/10, editing is not good esp the sunset's sky ㅠㅠ inconsistent tone, and weird + boring camera angle for many parts.
Their feelings feels rushed and forced, no development whatsoever, immediately jumps to i love you, how epic :")
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A dishonest rating but an honest review, because I am a fool for OnlyOneOf
Is my rating honest? No. In reality, it's more like a generous 7. But I love my LGBT+ supporting kings OnlyOneOf, and I would just cry if I rated a drama they starred in any lower than an 8, okay?! So forgive me for fudging the numbers! I am a person with feelings!All this being said, just because I won't rate it honestly doesn't mean I won't review it honestly.
It makes sense that the acting here wouldn't be stellar; they were all new to this. Credit where credit is due, though, Nine and Mill managed to pull off some pretty decent chemistry with their characters despite not being given a lot to work with. However, the editing, story beats, and pacing desperately needed work, and there is no excuse for that. Many times, when scenes continued, they would abruptly cut to new locations or would skip forward a few hours, giving the watcher this uncomfortable feeling of being rushed. Also, more screen time should have been devoted to showing more of the leads spending quality time together rather than talking about or cutting to very brief clips of it. As they say with books, "Show, don't tell." Finally, did we need the scheming ex? No, we did not.
All in all, could have been a lot better.
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This is just as mid as mid gets
I’m sorry, I love OnlyOneOf but this was just so disappointing in every aspect. I should have known that this was not going to meet any of my expectations but I still held high hopes because it was OnlyOneOf. The kiss was alright but it wasn’t anything serious, they didn’t even get a kiss at the end of the show. This was just super rushed and overall not worth the hype that I had for it. I felt like I watched something in 1.5 speed and now I’m just mad. I don’t recommend watching if you value yourself.Was this review helpful to you?
Disappointment
The story, if you can even call it that, was a complete soap opera mess. I didn't expect much from the acting anyway, but I could've put up with that if there had been a decent story. This way, the meh acting just made it all more ridiculous and unbelievable. No proper relationship development, a completely ridiculous evil antagonist, a bunch of unexplained things, weird story jumps in between the episodes, I could just go on and on. I liked the soundtrack, but that's the only good thing I can say about this one. Huge disappointment.Was this review helpful to you?
Honest opinion : You can pass this one.
Honestly, I felt like I was watching a school play. The acting was terrible, I know they're not professional but still.The plot wasn't a good idea, especially if the characters don't seem to be in love at all. Some scenes were so cringe that I don't even know how I managed to watch them.
I question the love triangle. Why would they add this to the story knowing how mundane the main love story was.
It’s not something I would recommend to boy love’s fans. Feels very wrong.
But I loved the OSTs and they tried 5/10 overall.
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Offers little for both BL and OnlyOneOf fans alike
As someone who is a fan of OnlyOneOf, I really would not have watched this if it were not for the group being in it. Sadly, not even they could save this absolute pile of garbage.I understand a lot of BLs have small budgets but this one seems basically nonexistent which is a bit confusing when compared to the camera quality which is really good. I fail to understand why this company took on producing this show if they seemingly spent all their money on getting the group. They even reuse music and music videos from the group in the series which is just completely jarring and makes no sense in the context of the series. They seriously couldn’t have just filmed at least a little bit of a music video if it was going to be such an important part of the series?
The plot is nonsense, which is not entirely the fault of the writers. The webtoon is also nonsense and pretty weird, but then again why the company chose *this* webtoon to adapt into live action is beyond me. The premise definitely could be interesting, but the series feels like it goes nowhere. Even when some drama ensues, it ends as soon as it starts and is pretty uneventful.
Jihoon and Eden’s romance feels very random to me. They are both okay characters and have likable qualities but I fail to see why they like each other. They barely have any romantic interactions unless you consider sharing a burger and a small kiss which only one party remembers romantic. Both of their sudden feelings for each other, but especially Eden’s, feel extremely random.
For the most part, the members did a decent job with their acting. But I will say it is painfully obvious at times that this is all of their acting debuts and some performances and scenes are less convincing than others.
I think this series fails for both regular BL fans and OnlyOneOf fans alike. If you are an OnlyOneOf fan, it’s disappointing to see the members’ acting debuts being in such a strange and disorganized show. If you’re a regular BL watcher, it’s disappointing to watch such a low-budget, unengaging series with barely any chemistry between the two leads. This series fundamentally fails at appeasing either of the two audiences it is trying to target.
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Meh
Definitely agree with the other reviews, this felt way too rushed, especially the last 4 episodes. The acting was....okay, super cringy at times, I had to pause the video to regroup. There were also a lot of flashbacks that were not needed, especially when the episodes were around 15 minutes each, there was no need to remind me what happened 3 minutes ago, it felt like they just needed to pad the runtime. It also felt like they tried to throw way too many tropes into a roughly 2 hour long series. The song also kinda grows on you as you watch, wasn't the biggest fan but by the last episode I was singing along lmao.Was this review helpful to you?
Cute, Solid and enjoyable.
I have been an onlyoneof fan for a while and when I heard about this project I was really excited! Mill and Nine killed it and I was fun and watching KBs character. All the other boys killed it as well. I of course had parts I found a little cringe. That's to be expected with the plot that has been chosen. Overall I found this a fun binge watch. I think the acting was soild and the story line fine. I don't think this is something I would reawatch more then once. but if you want something cute and that can be watched in one sitting its a good fit!Was this review helpful to you?
Better luck next time
With all due respect, honestly the directing, acting, and script were all lacking. The ideas for the plot didn't be fully developed, and left me in a state almost every episode asking if that was it. However, I was interested I how the story would end and I laughed a few times because of the goofiness in the directing. I want to support all the actors, they worked hard with what they had, and I hope everyone involved in the process gains experience through this and make improvements for the future.Was this review helpful to you?
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where do i even begin..
okay so. watched this all in one go 2 days ago so hopefully i still remember enough to write a good enough review.the show is about 2 idols who form a new kpop duo. you have eden who's a complete rookie and new to all of this and jihoon who's a senior idol that will now be redebuting in the said duo. everything is great and then we find out that the duo will use business gay performance as their main concept to attract more fans (spoiler alert it worked).
right off the bat i want to mention that eden's character was completely different in the drama! i have read a bit of the web comic and he's way sweeter, more thoughtful, more respectful and NOT homophobic in the drama version. very glad to see they removed his whole homophobia arc thing since it was kinda annoying lol. another thing i want to mention is that their relationship felt way more natural and genuine in the drama too. i honestly haven't read more than like a few chapters so i don't know how the relationship really fully unveiled in the web comic but i felt like it was very nice in the drama and since eden actually liked jihoon from the start it just felt more wholesome and cute in this version (liked as in going from platonic to later romantic, not romantic from the beginning. at least i think.). going back to the homophobic eden thing - i was lowkey anticipating seeing mill say "YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE ME A HOMOSEXUAL?" just for the laughs but im very happy to see they instead made him say "i just dont think homosexuality should be a concept" (also this lowkey felt like shade towards all the people who accuse ooo of queerbaiting and using queerness as a concept for profit LOL lowkey wondering if it was intentional or not)
the story rating is quite low and I'll be discussing why that is next. me personally, i really do not mind the whole business gay performance plot of the show. actually i find it quite funny since well.. this does actually happen probably way more than we think. gay fanservice is nothing new. BUT! there's a but. i personally dont think this was the best plot choice for a group who HAS been accused of "queerbaiting" and using lgbtq+ themes for money. if this show is somehow your introduction to onlyoneof please realize that this show is not accurate to reality at all and is just fiction.. onlyoneof have talked very openly about how their mvs potray queer relationships and they are very open about their love and support for the lgbtq+ community.. they are doing it for the representation please dont be fooled by this show LOL.
continuing, this isn't really the only problem with the show. the show is actually really silly and cute but hyunbin's character was just NASTY. both him and that woman, whoever she even was. i get that there needs to be some evil character in a show for it to be more interesting or whatever, but hyunbin's character is just a bit too much in my opinion. he's a manipulative, toxic and just really awful character. the fact he's basically the reason why BOTH of the main leads were sa'd is just absolutely horrible. he's an absolutely insane man and not in a good way but at least props to kyubin for playing the role quite well (and i feel bad he had to play such a character at the same time)
just a warning: the sa scene is in episode 6 i believe. or at least the "worse" sa scene with eden. its quite bad so if u get triggered by that please do skip it! it doesnt add much to the plot. the second one is with jihoon and in that one the girl just kind of lays on top of him while hyunbin takes a photo. the one with eden is veryy iffy though it goes further than that and he tries to push her away multiple times and its just... yeah skip it if it triggers you. its quite uncomfortable to watch.
moving on to things i did like!! the budget, as low as it was, didn't make the series awful! i was terrified it would look like a 2020 kbl with a 5 dollar budget but apart from the intro and the special effects - it was not bad! at least not as bad as i expected it to be. another thing i liked was how much promo onlyoneof actually got in the actual show! from playing their songs to showing their mvs etc. the boys actually did an amazing job at acting considering it was their first time too! obviously not top notch acting but good enough for kbl standards. as i mentioned before kyubin played his role well and another member i really wanna praise is wookjin! he was a natural at this and none of his acting ever felt awkward or stiff to me! all the other members also did a great job! (although the one scene where yoojung (jay) spoke in english absolutely took me out. personally though it was so comedic to me i think it just made it even better. not sure if they were aiming for comedic or if that was supposed to be genuine acting.. either way it's great we love you yoojung). the relationship between the male leads was also just sooo silly and wholesome i loved it so much. the skinship didn't feel awkward at all either, including the kiss. i liked the pacing of the show as well although the ending felt slightly rushed but not bad enough to make me feel disappointed.
you might ask - geez. if the story isnt even that good why is the rewatch and overall rating so high? well to be completely honest - its because i just enjoyed myself. i laughed, i smiled, i was shocked, watching it was an experience. and obviously the whole show is filled with onlyoneof who just so happens to be one of my favourite groups which just added to that. i would rewatch it because i love mill and nine's chemistry. i would rewatch it because i found the show extremely funny in a way. i would rewatch it because its entertaining. i would rewatch it because its a silly, wholesome and fun show with really fun characters (except hyunbin). objectively is it good? well no its not amazing but subjectively i just loved it. will skip the sa scene(s) if i rewatch though for sure.
tldr: very funny. wholesome. cute. amazing chemistry between leads. but has some iffy scenes and the overall plot isnt amazing. not the best writing either. very entertaining though.
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